Kyrgyzstan

Ethnic tensions and talks of new violence in Kyrgyzstan remain alive despite a relative calm there that has allowed some refugees to return home, the United Nations said Thursday. (..) The World Food Programme said barricades had been removed in Osh, in southern Kyrgyzstan, to allow refugees to return home while the organization was intensifying efforts to distribute food rations to the inhabitants in that city. WFP has distributed food to 150,000 people since the violence erupted on June 10.

Ethnic tensions and rumours of impending violence persist in Kyrgyzstan, and refugees and displaced persons who have started to return home after the deadly clashes earlier this month must be given a guarantee of safety (..). The World Food Programme (WFP) is stepping up its efforts to bring food to residents of Osh who have barricaded themselves in their homes because of fears of renewed violence. Amir Abdulla, the chief operating officer and deputy executive director of WFP, met with local women as they received a two-week ration of flour and oil from the agency.

Since June 11, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks have fled their homes in Kyrgyzstan, escaping violent clashes between Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks which broke out in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh. (..) In an effort to support this dimension of the humanitarian intervention, telecommunications experts from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) are being deployed along the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border to provide IT services.

Kyrgyz forces staged raids Monday in the tense south, killing two people and wounding 23, to find those behind deadly ethnic clashes in the volatile Central Asian state, authorities said. (..) The UN's World Food Programme said in a statement that a plane-load of aid carrying food rations for 30,000 people had arrived in Osh on Monday. Two more WFP flights carrying food and other aid were expected to arrive in Osh on Tuesday and Wednesday, it said.

Kyrgyzstan's military began clearing barricades from around Uzbek neighbourhoods in the ravaged city of Osh on Sunday after extending a state of emergency in the country's volatile south. (..) The United Nations has stepped up aid to the region after issuing an urgent appeal for humanitarian assistance, with the World Food Programme expected to fly 110 tonnes of food to Osh and to Andijan in Uzbekistan on Sunday.

Kyrgyzstan will investigate allegations that government troops were involved in ethnic violence, an official said Sunday. (..) The U.N. World Food Programme planned to airlift food over the weekend to augment ongoing distributions. (..) Starting Sunday, planes will carry 110 tons of high-energy biscuits from the agency's warehouse in Dubai to the region (..) "With a huge number of people displaced by the conflict, and thousands more trapped without food, water or supplies, there's not a moment to lose," said Josette Sheeran, executive director of the WFP.

The first U.N. aid plane arrived Wednesday in Uzbekistan to help the thousands of people who have fled ethnic clashes in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, officials with a U.N. Refugee agency said Wednesday. (..) The ICRC says it was able to visit the main detention center in Osh Wednesday for the first time since the crisis started and has delivered food provided by the World Food Program to around 1,000 detainees. The WFP says it has 3,000 metric tons (about 6.6 million pounds) of food -- mainly wheat flour and oil -- in ready for distribution in Kyrgyzstan.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke with the head of Kyrgyzstan’s interim Government today regarding the crisis in the south, as United Nations agencies launched operations to assist the thousands of civilians affected by the violence. (..) “This crisis is unfolding rapidly and WFP is mobilizing its global expertise to ensure that the vulnerable – particularly women and children – do not suffer,” said Executive Director Josette Sheeran. “We implore all sides to ensure humanitarian access to the vulnerable, trapped by the crisis.”

A tense calm was felt in the streets of Osh Tuesday as Kyrgyzstan's interim government sent more security forces to the area to quell violent ethnic clashes. (..) "People are screaming, 'We need food; we need food,' to those who are passing by," EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said. The World Food Programme has emergency stocks in the country and can deploy food quickly, she said, but would then need to restock urgently.

Hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers in Kyrgyzstan have thanked UNHCR for providing them with winter aid, saying it had helped them survive at a time of economic hardship. Their expressions of gratitude came as the refugee agency said it was extending the special winterization programme until the end of May. (...) Distribution points were established in the capital, Bishkek, and in Osh, while UNHCR's implementing partners delivered aid to people who could not make it to these cities. The World Food Programme, meanwhile, distributed food to tens of thousands of needy Kyrgyz people and non-refugees.